Several old and unrelated videos of Indian men's cricket players including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and MS Dhoni are being shared on social media with false claims that they are recent emotional statements made to fans after India lost to England in the semi finals of T20 World Cup.
On November 10, 2022, the Indian men's cricket team lost to England in the T20 World Cup semi-final dashing hopes of making it to the final to be played on November 13, 2022. The final game will now be played between England and Pakistan.
Below is a list of videos either old or unrelated that have been revived and shared with false claims.
Rohit Sharma
A 2021 video of Indian captain Rohit Sharma is being shared with the misleading claim that it shows an emotional message by him to the Indian fans after India getting knocked out of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
The caption of the video reads, "Watch Rohit sharma's emotional message to Indian Fans after getting knocked out of T20 world cup"
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However, on running a reverse image and a relevant keyword search we found that the video is from April 2021, more than a year before the recent T20 World Cup.
Sharma posted the original video on his Facebook page on his birthday on April 30, 2021, thanking those wishing him and asking everyone to follow COVID-19 protocols in place at the time.
Virat Kohli
An old video of Virat Kohli where he's giving an emotional statement to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fans after their exit from the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) is being shared as his recent statement after India's exit from the T20 World Cup.
The video is being shared with the caption, "Virat Kohli Emotional Massage For Indian Fans Again England Losing T20 World Cup Knocked Out Match | IND vs ENG. virat kohli crying after losing match against England. virat kohli emotional massage. thanks for all support me and my team"
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BOOM found that the viral video is from May 2018, when Kohli posted it after his IPL team - RCB did not perform well in that year's IPL.
Kohli tweeted the video on May 24, 2018, with the caption, "I really believe in the concept of, "you either win or you learn". We fought hard and gave it our all but one thing is for sure, next season we definitely will bounce back stronger than ever with our learnings from this season. Take care. @RCBTweets #RCB #IPL2018"
Another old video of Kohli addressing a press conference is being shared with the false claim that he announced his retirement from cricket after India lost to England. Several Facebook users are sharing the old video as a live stream on Facebook with the misleading caption.
However, we found that the video is from the press conference he gave after India's defeat to Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022.
The original video was uploaded on ANI's YouTube channel on September 5, 2022. The same visuals can be seen in this video as in the viral video.
BOOM Hindi had previously fact-checked this false claim on November 11, 2022.
Additionally, Kohli tweeted after India's loss to England and did not mention anything regarding retiring.
MS Dhoni
A video of former Indian cricketer and captain MS Dhoni from July 2019 giving a motivational speech on focusing on the process rather than the result is being shared with the misleading claim that it is a recent message to the fans after India lost on November 10, 2022.
The video is being shared with the caption, "Emotional Ms Dhoni Gave Heartbreaking Statement After India Lost In Semifinal"
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A keyword search on YouTube for, "ms dhoni focus on the process", showed that the video is old. On YouTube, the video was uploaded on May 21, 2021.
Suryakumar Yadav
An old and unrelated video spanning a few seconds of Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav from an Instagram live is being shared with the false claim that it shows the player crying after India vs England match.
BOOM found that the shot where we can see his hand on his head is from a long and old Instagram live where he was not even crying but interacting while laughing and smiling with other Indian cricketers.
The video is being shared with caption, "Suryakumar Yadav crying and emotional after India got knocked out of T20 World Cup"
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At the 1.23 minutes timestamp in this long video uploaded on YouTube on July 26, 2022, from an Instagram live interaction between Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Yuzendra Chahal, and Yadav, we can see the same gesture which has been edited and shared with the false claim.
After India's exit from the 2022 World Cup, Yadav took to Instagram to share his thoughts and said, "So close, yet so far. Grateful to our fans who create electrifying atmosphere, no matter where in the world we are. Thankful and proud of the unending support for each other and the hardwork put in by this team and support staff. Proud to play for my country. We will reflect and come back stronger"
